Back to the Caribbean Complaints & Reviews - Vacation trap

Back to the Caribbean

Vacation trap

I purchased a vacation package from Back To The Caribbean and at the time of purchase or on the contract there is no mention of cancellation. With the current economy, I called to get a refund only to find out that I am not able to cancel. I was never told that I would not be able to cancel nor is it written on any of the documents that I have received from them. Furthermore, my lawyer wrote to them and completely ignore the letter. Now I find myself having to sue them.

Comments

Not sure why you should be able to cancel something you committed to but good luck dealing with them - I bought a package from them a couple of years ago but was never able to get a confirmed resort booking. They don't respond to emails or voice mails so it's just a scam as far as I'm concerned. Their website recently vanished so they may be out of business now (too many compaints becoming public and people checked on the web and stopped buying?) - they'll probably resurface under another name though.

just for reference for anyone looking for "Back to the Caribbean", their website isn't there and has been replaced by www.backtofun.com. I'd avoid them as well as likely are the same people trying to hide from Back to the Caribbean problems

I worked for this company before and yes it is a complete scam and the owner only cares about making money. I am sorry to say that I had anything to do with their business. Try to avoid them as they will not take care of you or refund your money. For any other people out there do not buy anything from this company.

This really worries me since I think I have been caught in this scam - I did enter a competition when I was in Jamaica at the end of January and I received a phone call to say I had 'won' a return trip as well as an additional week in the US. I never received the email I was promised and have had no documents in the post todate. I have been googling 'back to the caribbean' since that was what appeared on my credit card which I have now cancelled.
Anne in London

I was on vacation in the bahamas and saw their stand to register for a free cruise. Then I got a phone call a few weeks later saying that my name had been drawn.

I purchased a cruise from them last year with the stipulation that I had to go to two of those timeshare reviews first. After enduring the two, I could never get them to book my cruise. When I called they tried to tell me that a cruise was not a part of my package.

I called my credit card company only to have them tell me that it had been past 45 days so they couldn't do anything about it. I put in a complaint with the BBB. They finally returned my call with someone trying to SELL me more timeshare but refused to give me a refund or cruise.

These people are total scammers. They NEVER resolved the issue with the cruise even after countless emails and phone calls. I suggest you look them up in the Better Business Bureau. They have an F rating and have hundreds of complaints.

My only suggestion is to call you credit card since it hasn't been 45 days. Good Luck.

My husband and I bought a package 9 months ago, off an entry form we filled out. We have had no problems at all with this company and am disturbed to read these blogs. Nobody ever compliments anymore.. I am a hardworking school teacher and my husband I'd in real estate. We have also been affected by the economy and am very happy we were able to save 80% off of a vacation we would have to pay full price for. We had no problems booking and customer service was awesome!! To the lady that is taking them to court, why if you are "struggling" pay money for a lawyer when you could just take the trip or sell it. They do make it transferable.. If you get chosen be grateful !!

The girl who wrote the post above works for this company. Her name is Gina a.k.a gigi she use to be my manager when I was on the phone. You can even see in her writing how she is trying to sell you on the 80% off bull crap. DO NOT BUY OR USE ANYTHING FROM THEM. If you want a refund you can contact your credit card company and dispute the charge no matter how long ago it was. They will protect you because this is a fraudulant vacation pacakge. Just send them the terms and condations as well is the locations that they sold to you at the time of purchase as they probably don't even have the same destinations. Also you can contact the state of florida attorney general and file a complaint and I am sure you will receive all you money. You can file a complaint by going to www.myfloridalegal.com

ohhh my we bought a package from Gina Calmbro and I felt like I was being scammed into it. She kept telling me I have to buy it now and that if I didn't they would pass it on. I am going to contact the BBB as well as my credit card company. You can never get a hold of customer service and when you do they are very unprofessional. They only have two people working there I think a Lake and a man named Johnny who both in which are very rude and don't know what they are doing. I have been trying to use this for sometime and they always so the date and locations aren't available.

We just called Back to the Caribbean at 1-800-578-0438 to set up a trip and got the recording "you do not have any credit; goodbye". We sent money last year to extend it as we were unable to use it and now we're sensing we've been completely had as we spent a few hundred dollars to get two three night and day U.S. trips (of which we used one) and a week long Caribbean vacation that apparantly will never happen. What is our recourse?!?!?

YOU DO NOT, I REPEAT, YOU DO NOT STAY IN THE RESORT YOU'RE TOURING. REPRESENTATIVES ARE VERY MISLEADING!!! SAYS THE "TERMS AND CONDITIONS" PAGE I SIGNED TELLS ME THIS. IT ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT. YOU MUST PAY AN UPGRADE FEE WHEN CHECKING IN AT THE WELCOME CENTER, NOT THE RESORT. THEY PUT YOU IN A STANDARD HOTEL/MOTEL AND YOU TRAVEL TO VISIT THE RESORT YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE STAYING IN.

WHEN YOU CLICK ON THE RESORT LINKS ON THEIR HOMEPAGE IT SHOWS YOU ONE OR TWO RESORTS IN THAT AREA WHICH MISLEADS YOU TO THINK THAT IS WHERE YOU'RE STAYING. I WAS TOLD BY LINDA, THE US MANAGER FOR BTTC, THAT THEY ACTUALLY HAVE MANY MANY MANY RESORTS YOU COULD BE CHOOSING FROM, NOT JUST THOSE ON THE WEBSITE, BUT NO ONE TELLS YOU THIS SO YOU DON'T KNOW. PLUS, SHE IS A COMPLETE IDIOT AND NASTY ON THE PHONE. SHE'S ALSO NOT GOOD AT HER JOB AND VERY FORGETFUL.

NOTE: WE WANTED TO STAY IN AN ORLANDO RESORT AND SHE SENT ME AN EMAIL TO ADVISE ME TO TELL THEM WE WERE ACTUALLY COMING FROM ANOTHER COMPANY SO THEY WOULD LET US STAY THERE...SHE INSTRUCTED ME TO LIE! BAD MOVE ON HER PART...I'VE SENT THAT EMAIL TO THAT RESORT MARKETING COMPANY.

First and foremost, I am the Director of Owner Services with this company. We are completely legitimate and are by no definition of the word are we a scam. We have over 20, 000 customers and only a handful of people are not happy. One can not please everyone. I do apologize about the issues you have experienced. I will be happy to help each one of you to the best of my ability reach a positive resolution. Yes, past employees did not provide the level of customer service we expect, which is why they are no longer here. We currently have a great customer service staff that provides a high quality of service. We strive to ensure that all customers are happy and have some great vacations. Please feel free to email me at holly@backtofun so that I can help you. I can assure you that all future experiences you have with us will be positive ones to the best of our abilities. Also, our website is currently being redesigned and should be live within the next couple of weeks. We do apologize again for the inconvenience. To find out the current destinations or any other questions please contact customer service.

Funny that this company is defending themselves on a complaint site. Why is Holly using an email for backtofun? looks like the company had some issues and wanted to run away from the original name. Your customer service was not responsible for locations not being available and the false information that you representatives told us. The problems with your company stems from the owners and the way they allow their company to be run. Let me guess you are either the owner or his wife right?
Maybe you should spend more time helping the customers that try to book a
trip or want their money back, then to try and cover you butt on a complaint forum.

I am who I say I am. I am responding on behalf of Back to the Caribbean. I help customers every day to travel. We are not running from any name as we wanted to make it easier on our customers to find the website because a lot of people misspell the word Caribbean. It is a shame that people like you and people like the person above my first comment have to resort to basic name calling. You or any one else bad mouthing people does not make your complaint look any more reliable in fact the opposite. We go above and beyond to ensure that we provide what the customer wants. It is a shame that Mike O'Brien had to call one of our employees an idiot and such. We were told on a Monday that Consolidated Resorts was declaring bankruptcy. We can even provide their public notice of bankruptcy for you. We turned a bad issue into something good because we scrambled and the same day we were informed of this we were able to get people placed in 2 bedroom condos at equally or better resorts. So lets get honest on here. All I want to do is have anyone on here that has had any issues to contact me so that I can resolve them for you. I am not the owner nor am I his wife. For our future customers that may find this site, please do not let rude ignorant people deter you from doing business with us it is exactly what we say it is and than some.

Well miss Holly, I personally spoke with you and nothing was resolved. I'm sure this happens all the time. In fact, you tried to get me to pay more money. Check out the BBB in florida and your F rating and numerous complaints says it all.

To anyone who may have recently or am considering doing business with these people...by the time you realize you've made a mistake they will NOT give you your money back. It could be months before you try to book anything and realize this. You're better off just contacting the resort themself. Most timeshare places already run deeply discounted specials for you to tour their resort (which you will also have to do if you use Back to the Carribbean).

And for everyones information we no longer have an F rating on BBB. We have a C or C- and are in the process of getting that raised. The BBB made a mistake when they gave us the F rating and when that was brought to their attention they corrected the grade. I am sure I gave you options. Perhaps those were not options that you wanted, and that is beyond my control. You can give me your name and I will look into the situation again because back than I might not have had as many options as I do now. The only way I would have said you had to pay more money is if you chose to travel to an all-inclusive resort and of course your package does not include all-inclusive. If it was in regards to the Caribbean than I do have about 15 different locations that you can choose from. Some of the ones that were not available at the time may be now.

Remember, one cannot please everyone. I do the best to my ability to help everyone. No not everyone that I have spoken with may be happy, but I can guarantee more are happy than are not. But you never see anyone say anything on these types of boards because they are for people who are not happy. How nice it would be if someone started a compliment board.

My boyfriend and I "bought" a vacation from this place also...5 years ago. We called and called and got no response. Needless to say we never went on vacation. Now 5 years later, they send me an e-mail that they don't respond to and leave messages on my house phone. My boyfriend called back and spoke with some one. Low and behold, they wanted to correct our being ripped off by trying to get us to give them more $$$. How stupid do they think we are? Scam me once, sahm on you...scam me twice, shame on me!!! WHAT A JOKE!!!

I just want to put my 2 cents in. I "won" a vacation from this company and was able to use it. Holly & Johnnie helped me get my reservations although it did take almost a year trying. That said, my husband & i went to Puerto Rico and had a fantastic time. The Grande Melia was outstanding and the time share presentation was simple with no high pressure to sell. I am currently trying to book my 3 day vavation in Florida. The web site will not let me do it online so I will be calling tomorrow. I just hope that I can travel in a month & that it won't take quite as long as it did to go to the Caribbean.

We are right there with you. We were called by them about a 3-trip pkg for a certain amt. We have gone on one and what a nightmare. The place was a rathole, roach bag hotel - that they called a resort. We had a nightmare with the place they sent us for our 90-minute presentation. They treated us so rudely the entire time that you would never believe. At the end when we said we weren't interested one particular employee, Brian, said, "Get them out of here, there is no money here." There is alot more that happened. I understand that if you ask to speak to one of their mgrs they call the Police on you. They trip you up by giving you the wrong address on your appt card so that way you will be late or can't find it and then try to chg you again for a room you have already paid for. We are in the process with the BBB, and any other places and sites that we can get help from. Buyer beware! When they call you they do say that you must do this now and you can't go and ck up on them or anything and they also won't give you the place of where you are staying. You don't find that out until you get to the city you are staying in. Isn't that suspicious? They don't want you to look up any info. They totally misrepresented themselves.

My husband and I have been dealing with Nina at Back to Fun and she has been fantastic. She is always professional and helped us book our first part of this deal. We are going to Orlando in January and I read the fine print and understand from the start that we will not be staying on site. I am hoping for the best that we will be able to still get a trip to Mexico or PR out of this, but, so far so good. If anyone has any problems, call back and ask for or leave a message for Nina. She will call you back. And no, I don't work for the company :) I live in NY.